1. Field of the Invention
The presently disclosed invention relates to games of personal entertainment and, in particular, pinball games.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among games of personal enjoyment, games in which a ball is made to traverse a playing surface have found particularly wide acceptance. These games have a wide range of imaginative objects, the attainment of which constitutes successful performance of the game. Considered to be generally illustrative in U.S. Pat. No. 2,144,240 to C. J. Breitenstein in which the weight of an appropriately positioned ball forces an electrical switch closed, thus energizing a scoring register or similar auxiliary means.
More recently, the balls have tended to be electrically conductive and at least portions of the playing surface have also been electrically conductive such that the ball completes a current path between the electrically conductive portion of the playing surface and a terminal that is at a voltage potential different than that of the playing surface to activate a scoring register or other auxiliary mechanism. U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,844 to J. H. Lemelson is considered to be generally illustrative.
Many of the games which have employed an electrically conductive ball on a conductive playing surface have been "static" in that, in the operation of the game, there are few if any parts other than the ball that experience mechanical motion. However, it has been found that games capable of mechanical movement or "active" games have enjoyed wider public acceptance than such static games. Therefore, it has been commercially desirable to include mechanically active devices in such games. The mechanical devices used in such games are subject to considerable wear and, consequently, have generally tended to be complex and expensive.
The complexity and expense of these mechanical devices has generally tended to restrict their application to games intended for commercial use. More recently, however, these games in general and especially pinball games, have found a growing market for private use by the individual consumer. In order that they be salable, the games intended for private use must be less expensive than the commercial models which are considered a capital investment. Nevertheless, it has been found that games intended for private enjoyment have wider acceptance when they include active mechanisms of various types.
With particular reference to prior art pinball games intended for private enjoyment, active mechanisms have been used for triggering auxiliary circuits such as scoring register circuits. These active mechanisms include multiple triggering devices in which the ball passes through a channel or similar pathway to activate the mechanism a multiple of times. However, cost limitations on these mechanisms have generally resulted in their rapid wear and unreliability.
Accordingly, there existed a need for an active mechanism for use on games, such as pinball games, which was inexpensive enough to be applied to games intended for private use, yet durable enough to afford the purchaser a reasonable use expectancy. More particularly, there was a need for a multiple triggering mechanism that could be substituted for previous multiple triggering mechanisms that were found to have unacceptably low operation lifetimes.